Monday, September 10, 2007

PDX Builders Busy....

And I have nothing to do. How can that be? Most of the builders 35 miles north have more work than they can shake a stick at and I am down to building myself more bikes. There's not a lot of profit in those bike ya know.

How can this be? I'm I not cool enough, do my bikes suck, am I not sexy enough on the bike? Maybe, no way and only in the winter. What can I do to generate some business? Should I turn my blog into a shameless promotion machine? Nah. Perhaps more youtube postings would help?

One thing I could do is a little advertising. That's why I'm putting an ad in CX Magazine. They anticipate distributing 2,500 copies of their first issue and I'll have a half page ad in there. I better up the minutes on my phone because it should be ringing off the hook!

Racers are a cheap bastards (present company included), but they will jump on a deal. I think you need to focus on a market segment that you can win. Skip race bikes - nobody races steel anymore (sorry) and even all those super-fast Cat4s are on team bikes these days. Target some other markets that are especially popular in the PNW:

Rain bikesCyclocross (single speed!)Commuter bikes

Offer low-margin pricing to teams who can order ~4 frames. Get really competitive on price and you'll make money. I just ordered a single-speed cross frame for ~$400 (no fork) and it's freakin' chromoly! If you could come in at $600 for a stock-dimension frame with decent materials you'd certainly get some customers. Nothing draws a crowd like a crowd - and you need to start one!

(I've been plugging you as best I can on BikeHugger - hopefully it'll pay off soon)

Andrew- I'm certainly open to building any bike a customer wants. SS, MTB, rain...whatever. Although trying to hit a $600 price point is next to impossible. There's a reason your frame only cost $400...but I won't get into that.

I certainly appreciate all your help on bikehugger. That reminds me, I should send you a t-shirt.

P-Dogg- Right now my niche is...not having a niche. But I like the idea of using lazers.